"normal." The relative paucity of famous As a self-conscious body of litera- homosexualscientistsprobably stemsfrom ture, sf arose in the Anglo-American world the fact that one does not have much in the 1920s and 19309, when it found a information on the affectivelives of inves- vehicle for short stories in pulp magazines tigators of natural phenomena, because and an audience among male adolescents. such aspects are thought irrelevant to the As such sf "predictions" as the atomic "objectivity" of science. Yet, as indicated bomb became reality in the 1940s, the at the outset, the older picture of science as genre became increasingly respectable, a seamless web of dispassionate inquiry is developed an adult readership, and be- yielding to a more nuanced picture, in came able to economically sustain book- which science draws closer to the arts. As length works by talented writers. This this newer approach takes hold, one may expansion continued at a slow but steady expect to learn more about the emotional pace into the 1960~~when an explosion of commitments of individual scientists and interest in space travel (accompanying the the way in which these commitments in moon landing program) and science in turn interacted with their creativity and general raised interest in sf to the point the larger world in which they live. where it became a major part of popular Richard Dey culture, generating films of mainstream circulation (such as 2001: A Space Odys- sey], television series (suchas "Star Trek"], SCIENCEFICTION and scholarly scrutiny. Today it is one of Although the definition of "xi- the most popular genres of fiction in the ence fiction" has eluded any real consen- English-speakingworld,,has spread to many sus either inside or outside the field, for other languages (notably Russian], and is present purposes science fiction will be the subject of hundreds of academic treated as a literary (and lately, cinematic, courses. Sf also boasts a highly organized television, and musical) genre which ei- and very vocal fandom constituting what ther speculates on life in the future lor almost amounts to a subculture in itself. "alternative universes" of the present or By its nature, sf tends to posit ~ast)orinwhichtheextra~olatedors~ecu- alternatives to contemporary societies, lated effects of advances (or declines) in their assumptions, and their mores, while science and technologl' are important ele- remaining rooted in the cultures of its ments to the story. With this definition writers and readers. ~t should not be sur- the article excludes the major genres of prising, then, that sf has on the one hand fantasy and horror. dealt imaginatively with issues of sexual- Considerations. ity, sexism, and sexual orientation, por- times called "speculative fiction," "sf" (as traying contemporary assumptions about it is commonly referred to)is a genre of the these topics as time-and-culture-limited modemageofscience~thoughsomewould rather than universal, and on the other traceitsroots backtosuch "fantasy travel" hand has had its share both of invisibility writersasthesecond-centu~ greek for non-heterosexual characters and of Lucian, True History takes him homophobic stereotypes. Since the 1970s, a homosexual kingd0m On the A the former tendency has become domi- wider circle of opinion credits Marl' W. nant, aided by a good number of acknowl- Shelley's Frankenstein (18181 with being edged gay, lesbian, or bisexual writers; it the first sf work, showing a genuine con- is not too to say that in the 1980s~ cem for the effects of science on human- homophobia is no longer considered ity. Jules Verne (1828-1905) and H. G. form" in sf, Wells (1866-1946)areotheroft-citedfound- Historical Development. During ers of rhe genre. the "pulp period," sexuality in general was 4 SCIENCE FICTION largely neglected, the subject not being which Sturgeon posits a one-gender soci- considered suitable for adolescent litera- ety; the homophobic attitudes of a hetero- ture, and the magazine editors serving as sexual male brought into this society are effective censors. As the demographics of unfavorably depicted. the readership broadened, it became pos- There matters rested until 1967, sible to include characters who were more when SamuelR. Delaney, a blackgay writer or less undisguised homosexuals,but these, and winner of four Nebula Awards and one in accordance with the attitudes of the Hugo Award, started playing with alter- times, tended to bevillains: evil, demented, native sexuality in his Ace novel The or effeminate stereotypes. The most popu- Einstein Intersection (using semi-alien, lar role for the homosexual was as a deca- semi-human hermaphrodites) and the dent slaveholding lordling whose corrupt Nebula-winning short story "Aye, and tyranny was doomed to be overthrown Gomorrah," which posits the develop- by the young male heterosexual hero. ment of neutered human "spacers" and Lesbians for good or bad remained nearly then depicts the "fre1ks"-people who invisible. become sexually oriented toward the It fell to Theodore Sturgeon, one spacers. In this work the concept of of the most noted sf writers of the 1950s)to sexual orientation is examined with the provide the first positive portrayal of desired distance attained by imagining a homosexuals in a 1953 story "The World new one. Well Lost," published in the June issue of Delaney followed this in Novem- Universe. Coming at the height of the ber, 1968, with the dazzling Hugo- and homophobic hysteria of the McCarthyite Nebula-winning short story, "Time Con- period, this story featured a pair of homo- sidered as a Helix of Semi-precious sexual-androgynous aliens who, exiled Stones." This picaresque tour de force from their homeworld, arrive on earth. At featured two human males, H. C. E. and first their gender remains unknown and the teenage sexually masochistic singer Earth's population fawns on them, dub- Hawk, who are still friends after having bing them "lovebirds," but when the truth once been intimates. is discovered they are sent back where Enter Ursula K. Le Guin, a mildly they would face execution. I[n the end, feminist writer, who in 1969 startled the sf however, the pair is rescued by a spaceman world with her Ace-published novel The who is a closet homosexual. This land- Left Hand of Darkness. This book, which mark story is typical sf in criticizing con- won both major awards and quickly gained temporarymores (here,homophobia) while the stature of an all-time classic of the undermining the threat to the reader (and genre, broke all previous molds in depict- the current censors) by recasting the pro- ing a planet whose people are sexually tagonists as aliens. neuter most of the time, but who ran- A step backwards to homophobic domly turn male or female for a few days attitudes was Charles Beaumont's 1955 each month. story "Thecrooked Man," aPlayboy piece After Le Guin's searching exami- which inaugurated a long line of stories in nation of sex roles and orientations, the which homosexuality is portrayed as the field was wide open for further explora- social norm for one reason or another. tion; the coming of the "gay liberation" Sturgeon came back in 1957 with "Affair period starting with the 1969 Stonewall with a Green Monkey," examining social Rebellion led to a relative flood of works stereotyping of homosexuals (again with looking at unconventional sexualities. an alien as the subject]. It remained only for Delaney to By 1960 Pyramid was ready to break the last barrier, depicting homosex- publish the book-length Venus Plus XIin ual lovemaking on the part of his bisexual SCIENCE FICTION 4 male hero, the Kid, in his 1975 Bantam Darkover books The Heritage of Hastur novel, Dhalgren. (1975) and The Forbidden Tower (1977), In the cinema, where science fic- which link homosexuality to telepathy; tion has been flourishing commercially William S. Burroughs' The Wild Boys (1971) since at least 1969, the absence of homo- and Blade Runner (1979); the classic sf sexuality has been nearly complete. writer Arthur C. Clarke's Imperial Earth Logan's Run (19761, depictinga future city (19751, in which the hero brings back from in which homosexuality is casually ac- Earth a clone of his lost lover; Joan Cox's cepted, stands out as an exception. Mindsong ( 1979);Delaney's hallucinogenic Authors. A number of the most Dahlgren (see above); Thomas M. Disch's prominent writers working in the field of On Wings of Song (1979);Zoe Fairbairns' sf have been publicly identified as gay, Benefits (1979)) a feminist work set in lesbian, or bisexual. Two of these, William Britain; M. J. Engh's Arslan (1976), in which S. Burroughs and Gore Vidal, made their the title character, a modern Alexander reputations in mainstream literature but the Great, is bisexual and develops a long- have contributed important novels to the lasting affair with a schoolboy; Sally M. genre, such as Burroughs' The Wild Boys Gearhart's The Wanderground (1978))a (1971) and Vidal's Kalki (1978). Writers set of feminist stories with a common working primarily in sf who have reached background; David Gerrold's TheMan Who the very top of their field include Marion Folded Himself (1973)' in which the hero Zimmer Bradley (b. 1930, prolific author of uses time travel to make copies of himself the Darkover series of novels and also a which turn out to be ideal lovers; Leo P. frequent contributor to gay and lesbian Kelley's Mythmaster (1973))whose bisex- periodicals), Samuel R. Delaney (b. 1942 in ual protagonist opts for heterosexuality; Harlem, author of the Neverjion series and Elizabeth A. Lynn's A Different Light a frequent writer on gay themes), and (1978), in which another bisexual protago- Joanna Russ (b. 1937, a radical lesbian nist opts this time for homosexuality, and feminist and occasional contributor to The Dancers of Arun (1979))which fea- lesbian and gay journals]. Edgar Pangborn tures fraternal incest complicated by te- (1909-1976) wrote a number of widely lepathy; a set of novels by Michael read works and consistently dealt with Moorcock: The Final Programme (19681, same-sex love. Less well known are Nikos featuring a bisexual hermaphrodite, The A. Diaman, the Englishman Henry Fitz- English Assassin (19721, whose female gerald Heard, Elizabeth A. Lynn, Tom characters are lesbian or bisexual, Break- Reamy, Sally M. Gearhart, and (in this fast in the Ruins (1972)about a gay male, field) the Frenchwoman Monique Wittig. and The Adventures of Una Persson and There is also a body of gay male Catherine Corneliusin the 'rtventieth Cen- pornography with sf settings; authors in tury (19761, two bisexual lesbians; George this area include Felix Falkon, Dave Gar- Nader's Chrome (1978),the first sf novel rett, Peter Harnes, Peter Hughes, Rex published by a major house (Putnam)spe- Montgomery, Charles Platt, and the more cifically geared for the gay male market; widely known Larw Townsend. Frederick Pohl's Gateway (1977))a Neb- Novels of Interest. A large num- ula and Hugo winner about a repressed ber of sf novels are of substantial gay or homosexual; Thomas N. Scortia's lesbian interest. The largest category of Earthwreck! ( 1974);popular writer Robert these are works in which the hero(ine)or a Silverberg's The Book of Skulls (1972))in major protagonist is either homosexual or which two of the four heroes are gay; the bisexual, usually males; books of particu- great sf philosopher Olaf Stapledon's Odd lar interest to women are so noted. These fohn (1936), whose hero goes through a works include Marion Zimmer Bradley's homosexual phase shortly after puberty; 4 SCIENCE FICTION best-selling sf writer John Varley's The M. Charnas' Motherlines (1978),in which Ophiuci Hotline (1977),whose heroine is women have set up societies completely bisexual, and his Gaia series starting with outside of the men's world, the novel Titan (1979)and continuing with Wizard containing no male characters; Charles E. (1980)and Demon (1984))featuring a pair Maine's Alph (1972), showing a future of women, one bisexual and one lesbian, Earth in which men have been extinct for who become closer and closer lovers as the half a millennium and civil war erupts trilogy progresses; Paul Welles' Project over a plan to bring back males; Joanna Lambda (1979)) depicting concentration Russ' The Female Man (19751, where the camps for male homosexuals in a police- all-woman worldis called Whileaway; Joan stateunited States; and John Wynnels The Slonczewski's Door Into Ocean (19861, Sighting (19781, a coming-out story. where an all-female race on a water planet Homosexualvillains can be found must deal with male invaders; the French- in numerous books; an interested reader woman Monique Wittig's Les Guerilleres might consult Bany Malzberg's The Sodom (1969)and The Lesbian Body (1973),which and Gornorrah Business and Tactics of posit all-female lesbian societies; her col- Conquest (both 1974), Fred M. Stewart's laboration with Sande Zeig, Lesbian Star Child (19751, or Kate Wilhelm's Peoples (19761, which does the same in the Hugo-winning WhereLate the Sweet Birds far future; and Donna J. Young's Retreat: Sang (1976). As It Was! (19791, which has an entire Novels set in worlds which ac- lesbian galaxy subjected to warfare by an cept homosexuality as a normal and inte- unknown species: men. grated part of the environment, but with- All-male environments have been out a focus on a major character, include a staple since the pulp days of sf, but these John Brunner's multiple award-winning have usually been limited situations such (Hugo, British Science Fiction Award, Prix as spaceships rather than entire cultures. Apollo) classic Stand on Zanzibar (1968 1; Novels which depict entire all-male socie- Delaney's Babel-1 7 (1966) and Triton ties include: A. Bertram Chandleis False (19761; Marta Randall's Iou~ney(1 978) and Fatherland (1968),in which the arrival of Dangerous Games (1980);and JohnVarleyls a mixed-crew spaceship precipitates a "Eight Worlds" series of books. The pau- miraculous conversion to heterosexual- city of novels projecting homosexuality as ity; Auctor Ignotus' AE: The Open Per- a not-very-remarkable, accepted part of suader (19691, in which gay men have set thelandscape, is noteworthy; authorsseem up their own society; and the Italian Vir- either to make homosexuality a major gilio Martini's homophobic The World element of their story or to omit it alto- Without Women (1969), where gay men gether. invent a disease which kills off all the A significant number of novels females. posit a world or society in which homo- Theodore Sturgeon's oft-cited sexuality is the only'option, there being Venus Plus X (see above) sets out a single- but one gender present. The feminist vi- sex world which is defined as neither male sion of aworldwithout males has no doubt nor female, while Philip Wylie's The Dis- inspired several of these; in short-story appearance (195 1) separates males and form they are represented b; James females into two parallel worlds, each of a Tiptree's (pseudonym of Alice Sheldon) single gender, where homosexuality is Hugo-winner "Houston, Houston, Do You adopted out of necessity. Read?" ( 19761, in which a plague has wiped Another large category of stories out men and three male astronauts hurled involves societies in which both sexes are into the future have to deal with the situ- present but homosexuality is either com- ation. Novels in this category includesuzy pulsory or socially favored. These works SCIENTIFIC-HUMANITARIANCOMMITTEE 4 could be written out of an author's desire (1971), where the inhabitants of a future to hold a satirical mirror up to the homo- Earth can change sex at will; Frederick phobia of his culture, but in practice seem Turner's A Double Shadow (1978),whose to reflect the writer's own paranoia about hero is a hermaphrodite; and JohnVarleyls homosexuality. The classic tale of this "Eight Worlds" series, in which human type was the short story by Charles beings can and do change gender as easily Beaumont, "The Crooked Man" (see as haircuts. above]. In this story, however, the "genu- ine" homosexuals are cruel and depraved. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Camilia Decamin, Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo, eds., Worlds Novels dealing with this theme include Apart, Boston: Alyson Publications, Anthony Burgess' The Wanting Seed 1986; Samuel R. Delaney, The Motion of (1962))in which homosexuality is required Light in Water, New York: Arbor House/ for official employment in Britain and Morrow, 1988; Eric Garber and Lyn violent warfare breaks out between the Paleo, Uranian Worlds:A Reader's Guide to Alternative Sexuality in sexes, while Nature goes on strike: crops Science Ficrion and Fantasy, Boston: G. fail and animals will not reproduce; Suzy K. Hall & Co., 1983. M. Charnas' Walk to the End of the World Stephen Donaldson (1974),which sets out an Earth of sexual apartheid and the subjugation of females; the Frenchman Robert Merle's The Viril- SCIENTIFIC-HUMANITAR- ity Factor (1974),in which men are hit by IAN COMMITTEE a disease which leaves a despotic lesbian The Wissenschaftlich-human- tyranny in charge and the remaining men itare Komitee, the world's first homosex- become second-class citizens; Naomi ual rights organization, was founded in Mitchinson's Solution Three (1975),basi- Berlin on May 14,1897, the twenty-ninth cally an expansion of the Beaumont set- birthday of Magnus Hirschfeld (1868- ting; and Eric Norden's The Ultimate So- 19351, a physician of Jewish origin who lution (1973), in which homosexuality is became the leading authority on homo- the social norm in a Nazi America. sexuality in the first third of the twentieth Settings in which sexuality in- century. Under the pseudonym of "Dr. volves more than two genders have been Ramien," Hirschfeld had in 1896published presented in the venerable Isaac Asimovls a bookentitled Sappho undsokrates, oder The Gods Themselves (19721, which de- wie erklijrt sich die Liebe der Manner und picts a three-sexed race, two of whom are Frauen zu Personen des eigenen Gesch- more or less male; Samuel R. Delaney's ' lechts! (Sapphoand Socrates, or How Is the seminal The Einstein Intersection (1967), Love of Men and Women for Persons of also trisexual; and John Varley's Gaia se- 1 Their Own Sex to Be Explained?).Moved ries, in which the native intelligent spe- by the suicide of a young homosexual cies undergoes extremely complex pat- officer on the eve of a marriage into which terns in order to reproduce. his family had pressured him, Hirschfeld A final major category of novels went on to create an organization that does away with gender distinctions alto- would campaign for legal toleration and gether, presenting worlds of androgyny. social acceptance for what he called the Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Dark- third sex. ness (see above) is the classic of this type. Writing in an era when biology Other novels in this area include the leg- and medicine uncritically accepted the endary Robert Heinlein's I Will Fear No notion of "inborn traits" of all kinds, Evil (19701, which puts a man's brain into Hirschfeld maintained that homosexuals a woman's body through a transplant were members of a third sex, an operation; Robert Silverberg's Son of Man evolutionary intermediate (or intergrade)